The Charge

What do chickens and dark deeds have in common? Sooner or later, they all
come home to roost.

The Case

For ten seasons Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon, Summer School) and his team of NCIS agents
have investigated crimes involving Navy personnel, racking up ridiculously high
ratings and a respectable body count along the way. NCIS: Season 10
pretty much has the same strengths and weaknesses as the previous nine—a
somewhat predictable formula nicely balanced by strong characters and stellar
chemistry.

The predictable side of things is in display in the season opener, which
resolves the cliffhanger which saw a bomb go off at NCIS while Ducky (David
McCallum, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) had a
heart attack on a beach. Not only were there no casualties in the main cast, but
by the end of the episode, the villainous mastermind is dispatched in a
ridiculously anti-climactic manner.

While the "crime of the week" episodes are generally forgettable,
there are a few exceptions, particularly "Canary," in which the teams
struggles to extract information from a captured cyber-terrorist—said
cyberterrorist is played by Vik Sahay (Chuck). While you may have to work a
bit to set aside memories of Jeffster!, it's refreshing to see the team have to
work to outwit someone. As usual, though, it's when things get personal that the
show truly shines, and the season spends a fair amount of time dealing with the
characters. "Namesake" brings back Ralph Waite (The Waltons) as Gibbs' father Jackson,
along with Billy Dee Williams as Jackson's onetime best friend and business
partner, Leroy Jethro Moore, Gibbs' titular namesake. In the funniest episode,
"The Devil's Trifecta," FBI Agent Fornell (Joe Spano, Hill Street Blues) and Gibbs are
investigating a case together when their mutual ex-wife Diane (Melinda McGraw,
Mad Men) turns up—she's
investigating the case as well. Awkward. Hands down, the standout is
"Detour," in which Ducky and Palmer (Brian Deitzen, promoted to
full-time cast member in this season) are kidnapped by Cuban agents; the pair,
well out of their element, have to outwit their captors. The only
character-driven show that doesn't quite work is "Squall," featuring
Jamey Sheridan (The Stand) as Admiral John
McGee—estranged father of Tim McGee (Sean Murray, Harts of the
West); while the actors do their best, they cannot rise above a hopelessly
clichéd script.

The season's main arc kicks in right about the halfway point, when a gunman
shoots up the home of NCIS director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll, Chicago
Hope). The arc itself—and the cliffhanger that it sets up—are
entertaining and intriguing—characters we've known for years get pushed to
the wall, and not all of them react the way we expect. There are perhaps too
many standalone episodes interspersed between the key episodes of the arc,
resulting in a loss of narrative momentum. It does set up the finale well, a
finale that sees Gibbs as the target of a major investigation. An added bonus of
the finale is the appearance of Gibbs' attorney, retired Rear Admiral A. J.
Chegwidden—John M. Jackson reprising the role he played for nine seasons
on JAG—the show that spawned
NCIS. The biggest issue with the finale is that Colin Hanks (son of Tom),
who plays the investigator gunning Gibbs, lacks the screen presence to
intimidate anybody.

Technically, the disc is solid. Image is a tad soft, colors are a tad over
saturated, but they're the same way on broadcast. The 5.1 surround track is
good, and shows off the incidental music and the occasional CGI explosion.
Paramount kicked the extras up a notch to celebrate the syndication nirvana that
is ten seasons. The array of featurettes include an in depth look at the tenth
season as well as a look at the past ten years, with various cast and crew
talking about their favorite moments/greatest challenges. There are also several
commentary tracks with cast and crew; you might not always get a lot of in-depth
discussion, but they are fun, and everyone seems genuinely fond of one
another.

The show occasionally struggles to keep things fresh without changing the
status quo—but as it turns out, that boat will sail in Season 11, as Cote
de Pablo will be leaving the series. The show remains a dependably enjoyable
diversion.